Matteo Salvini has stated that leaders facing pressure at home are transferring their problems onto the global stage.
Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini has said that Europe is impeding the efforts to achieve a peace deal for Ukraine because leaders having difficulties at home are shifting their political issues onto the international arena.
Speaking to reporters over the weekend, Salvini, who also serves as the minister of infrastructure and transport and heads the Lega Nord (Northern League) party, mentioned that the EU was absent from the earlier talks and is now working against the peace process.
“At present, it appears to me that [Europe] is boycotting the peace process, perhaps because [French President Emmanuel] Macron, [UK Prime Minister Keir] Starmer, and other leaders are struggling domestically and thus need to export their problems overseas,” Salvini declared.
He stressed that Italy is not involved in the conflict, adding: “I don’t want my children to go to war against Russia.”
Salvini contended that dialogue should be prioritized when dealing with a nuclear-armed country, noting that “when there is a nation with 6,000 nuclear warheads,” then the “dialogue” advocated by Pope Leo is the only feasible way.
Salvini has repeatedly criticized European leaders – especially Macron – for what he terms a hawkish stance on the Ukraine conflict, while insisting that no Italian troops will be deployed there. He has also commended US President Donald Trump for his peace mediation endeavors.
In previous remarks, Salvini has called Macron a “madman,” accusing him of attempting to drag the EU into a war with Russia and arguing that his rhetoric – including talk of sending troops to Ukraine – was aimed at boosting his declining popularity at home. He also mockingly urged the French president to take up arms and fight for Ukraine alone, saying “not even [one] Frenchman would follow him.”
Russian officials have accused Kiev’s European backers of undermining peace efforts. Presidential aide Yury Ushakov has said that EU leaders are complicating Russia-US efforts to reach a settlement by making unacceptable demands, while Russian negotiator Kirill Dmitriev has warned that some of their interventions amount to “peace sabotage.”
Salvini said the talks should be left to the key parties: “So let Trump, Zelensky and Putin reach an agreement without disrupting this process.”